<p>LAKELAND | Amber Bond is having a difficult time in her 20s.</p><p>After a divorce at age 25, she was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma.</p><p>Bond, now 27, underwent surgery to remove a swollen lymph node in her groin in May.</p><p>After ignoring it because she didn't have health insurance, she made the trip to the emergency room expecting to be back at work right away.</p><p>They told her it wasn't cancerous and referred her to a surgeon whom she paid out of pocket.</p><p>With the $630 payment came the diagnosis that would change her life.</p><p>At first she was diagnosed with sarcoma and underwent a bone marrow biopsy.</p><p>Then another lump appeared in her leg and doctors told her in July that it was melanoma.</p><p>She had surgery a week later to attack anything that could be cancerous.</p><p>"I've never been one to sit and get depressed. What else can you do? Sit and cry all day? That's not going to help anything," she said.</p><p>She had another surgery to remove all of the lymph nodes in her leg, a surgery she describes as the worst pain of her life.</p><p>"I was going to jump out the window but I couldn't get to the window," she said.</p><p>Doctors told her there was a 90 percent chance the wound would get infected and, sure enough, she was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room in August with just that.</p><p>Bond underwent another surgery to put in a wound vacuum to keep the site clean and prevent another infection.</p><p>The cancer is gone completely for now but there's still a 70 percent chance it can return.</p><p>Her twin brother, Andrew Bond, moved from Melbourne to be closer to his sister.</p><p>"Sometimes I think that my life's a soap opera. Every time something comes up I call my cousin up and tell her," Amber Bond said.</p><p>After the surgeries and radiation treatment, which she completed Nov. 20, she is left with plenty of bills and the loss of full mobility in her left leg.</p><p>Despite all of her setbacks she keeps smiling and is hopeful for the future.</p><p>"Divorce. Cancer," she said. "My 30s are going to be awesome because I've already gotten all of that taken care of."</p><p>Bond heard about the Newspaper with a Heart program from a customer at Fred's Southern Kitchen.</p><p>She was still in and out of the hospital at the time so her cousin turned in the paperwork for the program to pay rent and utilities on her one-bedroom apartment.</p><p>She receives $700 a month in Supplemental Security Income benefits and has been approved for disability benefits that will replace SSI in February.</p><p>The Ledger's Newspaper with a Heart program stopped eviction and is covering her rent and utilities.</p><p>The program is waiting on paperwork to take over car payments and insurance.</p><p>Throughout the holidays and beyond, The Ledger is sharing the stories of those whose lives have been helped through Newspaper with a Heart.</p><p>This is just one of the stories of people who have received assistance or are in need.</p><p>Bond grew up in Lakeland and was raised by her mother and grandmother.</p><p>She spent a lot of time with her cousins growing up and still remains close with all of them.</p><p>A graduate of Bartow High School, she started working in restaurants at 16 to help support her family.</p><p>She moved out and got married at 20, about the same time she started working at Fred's.</p><p>Five years later the couple divorced and Bond moved out on her own for the first time.</p><p>She continued to work at Fred's where she said her co-workers are like family.</p><p>She was promoted to assistant manager and made friends with a lot of employees and customers.</p><p>The restaurant has a collection jar for her at the front of the restaurant where customers who ask for her often leave a few dollars or change.</p><p>For now, the self-described "workaholic" is unable to work because of her leg.</p><p>She said she's found it difficult to sit still.</p><p>But the medical bills keep piling up, and Bond said she's thinking of filing for bankruptcy to get a fresh start.</p><p>"That's probably another bill collector," she says as the phone vibrates on her recliner.</p><p> </p><p>[ Margarita Cambest reports on Lake Alfred and Davenport. She can be reached at margarita.cambest@newschief.com or at 863-401-6969. ]</p>